Celebrity designer Mark Zunino gives ET an inside look.
It’s officially wedding season, and with an epic royal wedding quickly approaching, everyone seems to have impending nuptials on the brain -- especially if you’re a bride-to-be!
Choosing a bridal gown is one of the biggest and most daunting endeavors when planning a wedding, so for those brides who still have not said “yes” to a dress, ET tapped celebrity designer Mark Zunino to give us a rundown of the biggest bridal trends for 2018. And this is a man who has made gowns for Julia Roberts, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce, just to name a few A-listers, so you know we're listening.
"The more unusual your wedding the more it's remembered. But it has to be you," Zunino advises. "Don't go outside the box if you are not an outside of the box kind of person! But try to push it. That's what every girl is doing -- they're really owning and making it their own and it's kind of exciting because the possibilities are endless."
So let's break down those endless possibilities! Here are four things to try:
1. Color
"The color blush is really big and soft colors are really big," Zunino says. "Right now we're doing a lot of real strong pinks and dusty pink."
Not shocking, considering we've seen a number of celebs don the feminine color for their big day, most recently Chanel Iman in a gorgeous Zuhair Murad gown for her wedding to New York Giants player Sterling Shepard. Before her, there was Kaley Cuoco and who can forget Gwen Stefani's amazing John Galliano for Dior dress.
Pink isn't your thing? Zunino notes you can go bold, too. "I just did a cobalt blue gown!" Zunino says. "Then the whole wedding party is in black and then she's in cobalt blue. And so we're getting more and more of that where the bride is wearing the color she loves and the wedding party is maybe in black."
But for the pink-obsessed girls, we've got your inspo right here:
2. Prints
Another way to play with color and stand out is with prints. "We're doing quite a bit right now," Zunino says, noting this is a newer trend. "It's right at the forefront so everybody else will start seeing it probably two years from now. But with the custom girls we're doing a ton of prints."
Just look at rule-breaker Angelina Jolie, for her 2014 wedding to Brad Pitt. She wore a classically silhouetted white silk-satin Luigi Massi for Versace gown with custom embroidery of their children's drawings on the skirt and veil. Actress and model Poppy Delevigne wore a bohemian-inspired printed dress by Peter Dundas for Emilio Pucci as her second wedding day look.
Prints might seem wild to you at first, but keep the print delicate and the background white so you don't completely lose the bridal feel.
3. Feathers
A wedding day is one of the most romantic of your life so play that up with soft textures. “I think we're gonna see there's a lot of softness, a lot of chiffons. Soft feathers. Feathers have already kind of started but next season they're gonna be all over the place," Zunino predicts.
After donning a Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen princess ball gown for her ceremony, tennis superstar Serena Williams rocked some feathers for her reception dress, changing into a fitted Versace dress with a playful feathered skirt.
Dancing With the Stars' Peta Murgatroyd also changed into an ethereal feathered dress for her reception after exchanging vows with Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
Whatever your wedding style, there's a way to wear this trend if you're determined to incorporate feathers into your dress. Designers are offering us everything from full feathered skirts to feather detailing on sexy illusion gowns.
4. Detachable Overskirts
Lastly, there's a trend that's giving indecisive brides the best of both worlds. “We're seeing a lot of the girls wanting the big ball gowns. They still love their skinny little dresses so we're doing… a little form fitted sheath with a... detachable overskirt," Zunino says.
Modern Family star Sofia Vergara married Joe Maganiello back in 2015 wearing a Zuhair Murad Couture gown featuring a dramatic detachable overskirt. (Clearly, she's a woman who's ahead of the trends.) The white strapless silk-tulle dress perfectly hugged her famous curves while still maintaining a classic bridal vibe.
This is the perfect trend to choose if you want to have two distinct looks on your wedding day without having to do a complete wardrobe change -- drama for the ceremony and a sleek gown to dance in for the reception.
As for a trend that Zunino can't wait to see go away, he urges brides to keep their look classy for the big day. “The trend that I really would like to see go away is the extreme nudity… save it for the club," he says. "My thing is always for any bride, I think if you are gonna go low front, go high back. If you're gonna go slit, go covered front so there’s a balance. So really, pick an element of skin that you wanna show… and I would always say limit it to two.”
Brides, take note. Your future self will thank you.
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